Contemporary dishwashers have a wash chamber in which dishes and utensils are placed to be washed according to an automatic cycle of operation. Water, alone, or in combination with a treating chemistry, forms a wash liquid that is sprayed onto the dishes and utensils during the cycle of operation with a pump driven by an electric motor. The wash liquid may further be recirculated onto the dishes and utensils during the cycle of operation using a recirculation pump.
Dishwashers and household appliances in general may have a power savings mode (sometimes called a “sleep mode” of “off mode”) where most of the dishwasher components, including a user interface or control panel, are powered down until a user requests the dishwasher to wake-up to perform a cycle of operation. Typically, this power up process is performed by a user pressing a key dedicated to “waking up” the dishwasher and putting it in a stand-by mode. The circuitry for detecting the key press must be on to determine if the key is pressed and as a result the dishwasher consumes power in keeping the detection circuit on continuously.
There has been a recent trend towards placing appliances in a power savings mode to achieve greater energy efficiency and reduce the cost of ownership of the appliance. There may be future mandates requiring power savings modes on appliance that result in very low power draw during appliance idle states. For example, Europe may put in place requirements of 0.5 Watts of power draw for appliances in a power savings mode by 2014.